A/N: internets back up, so i guess its about time this got posted. I'd apologize, but it would be insincere and mean nothing. so I wont.

lokoloko-ako: your not the first to sugest such. I'll think about it.

He couldn't stop the flashback's or the insults flying through his head. Taunting him. The last flashback being of him getting yelled at by a giant... animal while meditating, trying to focus on his chakra. Somewhare in the shocked teens mind, something noticed the attack closing in on him. That same something urged him to move away from said attack.

Naruto rolled out of the way of the flaming lizard, barely avoiding becoming a crispy critter. Springing up, he then took off running strait at the woman who ripped the metaphorical wool from his eyes, paper kunai in both hands and in a reverse grip. Right as he was within slashing range he was kicked in the stomach, right before a left hook like upper cut sent him flying back.

-training ground 44-

'What the hell's taking them so long? If thy're not back in 10 minutes, I'm going after them and they won't like it if I do. Fucking little punks.' Anko placed her kunai back in its pouch before pulling out a sealing scroll. She then bit her thumb and whiped some blood on the seal, the seal then released a plate filled with 30 dango skewers as a predatory gleam entered her eyes. Mouth slightly watering, she grabbed a skewer and began to happily munch away, all thaughts of her abscent pupils momentarily forgotten.

-en route-

"Troublesome blond bastard."

'For once I actualy agree with shikamaru... damn thats sad.' thaught Hinata as her black haired team mate continued to bitch and moan about finding their blond team mate.

After 5 minutes of running they arived at training ground 40. They expected to arive and see Naruto doing some sort of training exercise, instead they see him get knocked threw the air about 50 yards or so. they instantly had the same thaught. 'He's sparring with someone... figures.' Not realizing he needs any help, the two of them stand there and watch.

Weaving through the feild of spikes after he landed, the whisker marked ninja started to finaly snap out of it. Taking a stack of explosive notes out, he created two clones and sent them after Kayumi. Swords drawn, the two clones shot twords her, zig-zagging across each others paths. As the two clones neared her, they jumped up in the air, releasing identical attacks. both crescents of spinning explosive notes raced tword their target, impacting the ground she occupied milli-seconds before. If not for a verry quick Kawarimi, she knew for a fact she would have been dead.

Realizing this was taking too damned long, Kayumi started to go through hand seals rapidly, ending on tiger. with a thaught of 'Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu', she began to peper the area around the clones with medium sized fireballs, catching one of them on fire. The other clone ran tword her, sword ready for a diagonal swipe. As the clone got closer, it had to weave between not only earth spikes, but also shuriken. Figuring it wasn't going to get any closer to her, Naruto detonated his clone from a tree a safe distance away, creating a 10 yard clearing in the middle of the spikes, sending dust and earth in all directions.

-edge of training ground 40-

Hinata stood there wide-eyed at the display between the two fighters, while Shikamaru stared on slack jawed. Hinata, noticing the constant look of fear on he blonde comrades face, finaly realized that it wasn't a spar. Tapping Shikamaru on the shoulder, she nodded in the direction of the woman and they headed in her direction. Stopping behind one of the first spires they encouterd, they decided a plan was in order.

Deciding that one would flank and the other would rush, the two of them took off weaving along their respective courses, kunai's and shiriken in hand. the instant they were in range they released their collective shuriken at her, forcing her to dodge out of the way.

Jumping into the air, Kayumi launched a handfull of kunai and flashed threw a couple handseals and cried out "Kage kunai bunshin no jutsu", turning a handfull of kunai into a virtual shower of death.

Seeing his team mates about to become pin cushions, Naruto ran to intercept the wall of knives. Ariving in an area roughly between the two, he threw up his hands and with a cry of "youhatsu", created a thick barrier of paper between his comrades and the hail of kunai.

"What's that womans problem with you, Naruto?" drawled out Konoha's second laziest nin.

"Fuck if I know, shes part of some weird cult. All I know is she seems dead set on killing me!" the blonde teen nearly yelled in response.

After retracting the wall Hinata and Shikamaru went threw a couple hand seals, one slower than the other. with a mental shout of "Suiton: Oyu Dangan no jutsu", Hinata spit a compressed ball of nearly boiling water at the blonde woman.

Shikamaru whispered "Raiton: Kyuuden no jutsu", causing a ball of lightning to condense in his hand before throwing it at her like a baseball.

Both attacks connected, causing her to scream and then pass out twitching. They then tied her up and and carried her twords the administrative building. Once inside, the three were pointed in the direction of the detainee processing wing. Dropping her off and signing a few forms, they headed in the direction of their training grounds.

The instant they stepped foot on the grounds they were dodging kunai, flung by a rather upset Anko."What the hell took you two so damned long? And you, Uzumaki, why the fuck are you late?", she asked inbetween vollies. Not giving them time to explain themselves, she kept chucking extremely sharp projectiles at them, untill she caught sight of a mesenger bird dropping twords her. Stopping her little tantrum, she took the message from the bird when it landed on a nearby post. After taking the message the bird took off back to whare it came from. She then read the note before destroying it. "Come on, the old man beckons."

10 minutes later they arrived at the administrative complex and were escorted directly to the Hokage's office, whare a debriefing took place concerning the recent attack. Naruto vaugely explained what happend, sending quick worried glances at his team mates every so often. Sarutobi noticed his reluctance and decided to detain him and Anko afterwards. Shikamaru and Hinata then recounted what they saw and went threw when they arrived. Afterwards the Hokage dismissed the two genin, leaving just Naruto, Anko and the old man in the office.

"Alright Naruto, out with the rest of it." the Hokage gently prodded. The blond nodded reluctanly and sighed.

"She said that I was something called a Jinchuriki, is that why practicly everybody hates me? Because fourth stuck a demon in me?" the instant he finished he started to break down and cry. Walking around his desk, Sarutobi gently embraced the crying child. Suddenly the crying blonde began muttering about it not being his fault between sobs.

Sighing, the old Hokage waited for Naruto to calm down some what while sending glances at Naruto's sensei. Realizing she was supposed to help, Anko frowned. She had no real idea how to comfort someone... kill, maim, torture/interigate sure... but not comfort. She finaly moved over the couple feet seperating her from her student and placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping it in a gentle squeeze. Slowly but surely the tears abated about 20 minutes later. Eyes still slightly moist, he told them about the head band she wore, saying she was a follower of the fox demon and was trying to subdue him to take back to extract it. This got the attention of the old man and caused him to pale cosiderably.

"Naruto, that woman you guys brought in, realy was part of a religious order, in fact one of the oldest ones in all of Fire country. They call them selves the order of the fox. I'm sorry to say this, but they see you as the one resposible for keeping thier god from them, which technichaly is quite true." Naruto's eyes widened to the size of silver dollars at this point. The Hokage continued on about the dangers that said religious order could pose to the blond paper user in the future, amongst other things. After the lengthy private debriefing, he made it clear that this was now an S ranked secret, along with the demon contained in him. He then dismissed the two of them.

Anko followed him out of the tower and stopped him as soon as they exited the building. Getting his attention, she then informed him that training was canceled today since he already had one hell of a workout. Nodding, he then thanked her in a subdued tone and headed hime.

-Naruto's apartment-

As soon as he got home he kicked of his shoes and curled up on his couch, replaying the battle in his mind over and over again before finaly passing out in exaustion. 45 minutes later he woke up to the sound of knocking at his door. 'What the hell? Nobody comes to visit me except the old man, Iruka sensei and occasionaly the one eyed pervert. Who the fuck could it be?' Getting up and stretching, he made his way to the door and opened it, only to see his team mateson the other side. Blinking a few times, he then moved to let them in before motioning for them to have a seat on the couch.

"What brings you guys here?" he asked with a blatantly fake smile and cheery attitude. Remembering his barely used manners he offered them some tea. At seeing their apreciative nods, he walked over to the kitchen and set some watter to boil before getting out his box of rare tea from snow country.

Shikamaru was the first one to break the uneasy silence that had fell amongst them. "We know." it was the only thing he said, but it spoke volumes about the situation. Noticing the blonde begin to panic he continued. "We don't hate you for it Naruto, but we do understand why you didn't tell us about it. I know if I had something like that were to have happened to me, I wouldnt tell anyone either, especialy if it seemed I was hated for simply existing."

Looking back and forth between the two of them, he could tell that shikamaru wasnt lieing to him. "You guys realy don't think im a monster or anything?" he asked truely shocked. Seeing them shake their heads he calmed down some. The kettle chose that moment to whistle out that it was done, causing him to jump and the other two to lightly laugh at him. He then went back to the kitchen and brought them out some cups, along with the tea and kettle before sitting down acrossfrom them.

Hinata noticed the kind of tea he had and was slightly shocked at his taste in teas. It was the kind of tea that mainly noble clans drank due to the price. That and the fact that it was her favorite kind. She silently wondered to herself how he could afford it, but quickly wrote it off as one of his quirks, that and the fact that he seamed to eat little aside from ramen.

"Figured I'd break out the good stuff since I don't get many visitors, you guys don't mind do you?" once again the two of them shook their heads. "So, how long have you known about 'it'." he asked after taking a sip and savoring its conflicting, yet soothing flavors of mint and cinnimon.

"N-not long, Naruto-kun, about a week a-actualy." replied Hinata before taking anoter sip from her cup.

"Shes right. it took following you for a month and a half to peice it all together." Shikamaru took a sip of his slightly cooler tea before continueing. "The fact that most of the villigers call you a demon or a monster was probably the biggest clue." At that point Naruto smacked his hand against his forehead with a sigh.

"Actualy, I couldn't have told ya even if I wanted to. I just found out today what you guys already knew." Hinata and shikamaru's eyes widend in absolute shock. They knew before he even did. "I'm actualy kind of thankfull you guys didn't tell me sooner. I probabaly would have writen you off as being like the rest of the village, hating me for something I had no control or knowledge of. For that I truely thank you." he then smiled at them, not the fake one he greeted them with, but a genuine one. "That, and the fact that the old man told me that if anyone were to have told me, the punishment was death, since it's an S-class village secret."

Shaking, the two of them sat their cups down on the coffee table. After a lengthy, uncomfortable silence, Naruto decided to break the tension, though not the way he intended to. He farted, causing all three of them to laugh histericaly. The door once again was knocked on, altering the mood in the room once again. Sighing, Naruto hopped up and answer it, revealing their sensei. Moving to let her in, he directed her to the couch and offered her some tea. passing up the offer, she pulled out a saucer and a small bottle of sake from her coat.

Putting on mock look of hurt, Anko set her saucer down after draining it of its contents. "How come nobody invited me? Am I realy that scary? And what the hell's that smell?" she then grinned at them, causing the three genin to lightly chuckle. "Seriously though, how you holding up brat?" she asked, looking right at the blonde.

After the three genin stopped snickering, Naruto answered her. "Prety good, all things considered sensei. I mean it's not everyday you find out you have a giant fuzzball sealed in ya." At the mention of the kyubi, Anko shot a look at the other two in the room and noticed they didn't seemed freaked out. If anything they looked like they wanted to giggle at how he put it. "I mean, sure, its going to take me a while to get over the fact, but other than that, yea, pretty good. Hell, they knew before I did. Don't worry, they figured it out, though I didnt think we were an information gathering team." he finished jokingly. at that moment all the tension that had been in the room vanished.

Anko decided that the saucer wouldnt be enough and took a long swig from her bottle of rice wine. Looking between her three pupils, she couldn't help but feel proud and said as much. Deciding that her goal was achieved, she got up and left, bidding her students good bye for the day. Shortly after, Naruto put up his tea kettle and put the cups in the sink before heading out to lunch with his friends.

jutsu:

Suiton: oyu dangan no jutsu (water realease: hot water bullet. creates a compact ball of nearly boiling water that upon impact causes scalding, blisters and burns. C-rank, offensive.)

Kage kunai bunshin no jutsu (shadow kunai clone technique. similar to shadow clone technique, only the object being replicated is not the user. A-rank, offensive.)

Raiton: Kyuuden no jutsu (lightning release: ball lightning. creates a ball of lightning in the users hand that can be thrown at an opponent. C-rank, offensive.)